Women

Background

Intersecting discrimination

Racial discrimination does not affect all members of victim groups in the same way. The Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (DDPA) focused attention on the issue of multiple, or aggravated, forms of discrimination, which are most significantly experienced by female members of discriminated groups, but which are also suffered by persons with disabilities, persons affected by HIV/AIDS, children and the elderly, among others. These are often among the most vulnerable members of society, and are at greater risk of economic hardship, exclusion and violence; discrimination against them is often compounded.

Race and gender

The intersection of discrimination based on race and gender has the most widespread effects. Although this intersection had long been ignored, the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing, recognized that “Many women face additional barriers to the enjoyment of their human rights because of such factors as their race, language, ethnicity, culture, religion, disability or socioeconomic class or because they are indigenous people, migrants, including women migrant workers, displaced women or refugees.”

Durban Declaration and Programme of Action

In the DDPA, states declare they “Are convinced that racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance reveal themselves in a differentiated manner for women and girls, and can be among the factors leading to a deterioration in their living conditions, poverty, violence, multiple forms of discrimination, and the limitation or denial of their human rights.” States further recognized “the need to integrate a gender perspective into relevant policies, strategies and programmes of action against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance in order to address multiple forms of discrimination.”

Women — not a homogenous group

Women are not a homogenous group of rights holders and discrimination against them can be expressed in many different forms and contexts. In order to protect, promote and advance women’s human rights, advocates and policy makers must take into account differences among women with respect to:

• age
• socio-economic status
• racial/ethnic background
• religion
• national origin
• citizenship
• status
• health
• and disability, among others.

Among the most disadvantaged and vulnerable are women from minority communities, whose problems are compounded by their uniquely disadvantaged positions in society.

Women — the many faces of discrimination against them

The majority of the world’s poorest people are women, who are further affected by discrimination if they belong to minority groups. Women suffer disproportionately from discriminatory labour practices and are frequently forced into underground or informal sectors. Members of racially discriminated groups do not enjoy equal access to health, education or justice, and such access is further limited for women.

Women, who are victims of trafficking, frequently also suffer from racial discrimination, doubly subjugated and vulnerable, and women from certain racial or ethnic groups may be particularly vulnerable to trafficking or targeted by traffickers. Women refugees and migrants are also more vulnerable to violence, lack of representation and limitations on their freedom of movement.

Women who are discriminated against on the basis of both gender and race are frequently subject to violence. In armed conflicts, women are sometimes explicitly targeted because of race or ethnic background. Rape and other forms of violence against women have been used as weapons of war in conflicts throughout history.

Violence against women and sexual violence as a weapon of war

Among the numerous references to gender in the DDPA, violence against women is given some prominence.

In the Programme of Action, the World Conference against Racism (WCAR) urges States “To recognize that sexual violence which has been systematically used as a weapon of war, sometimes with the acquiescence or at the instigation of the State, is a serious violation of international humanitarian law that, in defined circumstances, constitutes a crime against humanity and/or a war crime, and that the intersection of discrimination on grounds of race and gender makes women and girls particularly vulnerable to this type of violence, which is often related to racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.”

The DDPA also calls for an end to impunity for such crimes and the prosecution of those responsible.